Way Truth Life

Turn with me to the thirteenth chapter of John. We are continuing our series looking at the “I Am” statements of Jesus. There are seven “I Am” statements and all of them are found in John’s gospel. In Matthew 16 Jesus asks the disciples who the people think that he is. Then he asks the disciples who they think he is. In these seven “I Am” statements Jesus is answering the question himself, telling us who he actually is. And today we come to the most audacious, the most controversial of the statements. Jesus says that he is the only way to God. There is no other way.

The statement is found in verse 6 of chapter fourteen, but let’s back up a few verses to give it some context. Jesus is in the upper room. Jesus has already washed the disciple’s feet and celebrated the Passover meal during which he instituted the Lord’s Supper. Jesus has been preparing the disciples for his death and once more he tells them he’s about to die.

33“My children, I will be with you only a little longer. You will look for me, and just as I told the Jews, so I tell you now: Where I am going, you cannot come.” 34“A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” 36Simon Peter asked him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus replied, “Where I am going, you cannot follow now, but you will follow later.” (John 13:33-36)

Jesus is going to die, but the disciples are not going to die – at least not at this time. They will not be going with him nor will they be able to follow.

37Peter asked, “Lord, why can’t I follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38Then Jesus answered, “Will you really lay down your life for me? Very truly I tell you, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times!” (John 13:37-38)

Jesus warns Peter. Peter wants to do the right thing. He wants to be courageous and stand with Jesus. But as Jesus tells Peter in Matthew 26, “The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” There are things we’d like to do for God – the spirit is willing – that we never get around to doing – the flesh is weak.

Then we come to that popular passage in chapter 14.

1“Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. 2My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? 3And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4You know the way to the place where I am going.” (John 14:1-4)

Already we see Jesus making some amazing statements. You believe in God, he says, believe in me as well. In case you missed it, Jesus is equating himself with God. I’ve heard people say that Jesus never claimed to be God and that his followers made that part up centuries later. Well here is Jesus claiming to be equal with God.

Jesus said that in his father’s house there are many rooms – or mansions as the KJV puts it. What is the house of God? God’s house is the universe and heaven more specifically. Jesus says he is going to his father’s house and will prepare a place for us. How would Jesus have the authority to go to God’s house and prepare a place for us? Here you can’t hardly add a porch to your house without getting permission from the government. You’ve got to get a building permit and then have it inspected. How would Jesus get permission to prepare a room for us? John tells us in chapter 1 when he says that everything was made by or through him. Jesus has authority because he created it andhe created it because he is God.

Then Jesus says that he will come back for us. He’s was leaving – he was going to die – but he promised to come back. Death will not stop him. Death will not be the end. Jesus will die, but he will come back and take us to heaven – God’s house.

When Jesus says the disciples know where he’s going Thomas says he’s not sure.

5Thomas said to him, “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?” (John 14:5)

We call Thomas the doubter, but as I mentioned a couple of weeks ago Thomas was the first one who spoke up and said he was ready to die with Jesus. Now he asks a question that was on everyone else’s mind, but they were afraid to ask. I think we would have asked the same question. Where are you going. How can we get there? And Jesus answers with the next “I Am” statement.

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

Jesus says that he’s the THE way, THE truth, and THE life. Jesus isn’t saying that he’s one way among many. Nor is he one truth among many. He’s the only way, the only truth, and the only one able to give life. Jesus isn’t saying he’s the only one who knows the way to God, he’s says that he himself is the way. Jesus isn’t saying he knows the truth, he says that he is the truth. He doesn’t say that he has life, but that he is life itself. Only Jesus can take you to God and give you eternal life.

How can Jesus say this? Isn’t it a little boastful? John Stott wrote:

One of the most extraordinary things Jesus did in his teaching (and did it so unobtrusively that many people read the Gospels without even noticing it) was to set himself apart from everybody else. For example, by claiming to be the good shepherd who went out into the desert to seek his lost sheep, he was implying that the world was lost, that he wasn’t, and that he could seek and save it.

In other words, he put himself in a moral category in which he was alone. Everybody else was in darkness; he was the light of the world. Everybody else was hungry; he was the bread of life. Everybody else was thirsty; he could quench their thirst. Everybody else was sinful; he could forgive their sins. Indeed, on two separate occasions he did so, and both times observers were scandalized. They asked, “Why does this fellow talk like that? He’s blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:5-7; Luke 7:48-49).

If Jesus claimed authority to forgive the penitent, he also claimed authority to judge the impenitent. Several of his parables implied that he expected to return at the end of history. On that day, he said, he would sit on his glorious throne. All nations would stand before him, and he would separate them from one another as a shepherd separates his sheep from his goats. In other words, he would settle their eternal destiny. Thus he made himself the central figure on the day of judgment.

Jesus tells the disciples and the world:

I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

That is an astounding claim.

There have been thousands of teachers through the years that have claimed to know the way to God. There are thousands of religions that claim to teach the truth about God. They all claim to have the answers to life and death. Yet Jesus claims to be THE way, THE truth, and THE life. Meaning, all others are wrong. How can Jesus make this claim?

Today more than ever we’re being told that all faiths are equally valid. There is no religion or belief that is more true than another. It’s all a matter of taste or custom. If you grow up in China you’ll probably be Buddhist because the majority of the people are Buddhist. If you grow up in India you’ll probably be Hindu because the majority of people are Hindu. But if you grow up in neighboring Afghanistan you’ll probably be Muslim because 99% of its population is Muslim. Likewise, the majority of people who grow up in America claim to be Christians. No one religion, we’re told, is more true or more valid than another.

It’s like going to the supermarket to buy a soft drink. What do you buy? It depends on your tastes. Whether you buy a Coke, Pepsi or an RC, a Sprite, Mountain Dew or a Dr. Pepper depends on your personal tastes.

But Jesus says no. He not simply one choice among many, he’s the only choice. If you want to go to God, if you want eternal life, if you want forgiveness for your sins, there is only one choice: Jesus Christ.

Some say that comment is arrogant or exclusive. But it’s not if it’s true. And it is true.

To understand how this is true David Platt suggests that we need to go back to the beginning of the story to give it some context. Just as we started reading in chapter 13 to let us know what was going on in this story, to really understand how Jesus could make this claim we need to understand the broader story. And the place to begin is at the beginning. Literally.

The story begins in Genesis when God – a good and loving god – created the world. After creating the sun, moon, stars, plants, animals, and birds God creates a man and woman. He places this couple in a garden. God demonstrates his love for them by providing everything they need. There is nothing they lack. Everything is good. And God comes and visits them in the garden every day. So God not only creates them but makes them in such a way that they can have a relationship with him. But God also tells them that if they disobey him they will die. God doesn’t want them to die which is why he warns them, but one day the couple decides to disobey anyway. Even though they have all that they need and even though they know that if they disobey God they will die they decide to disobey God anyway. They eat from the one tree God told them not to eat from.

God comes to visit with them like he always did and instead of greeting God like they always did they hid. They hid because they were now afraid of God. They were afraid of what they knew was coming. God had said they would die and they did. Not physically that day, but one day. However, that day they’re perfect relationship with God died as did their perfect relationship with each other. And God forced them to leave the garden he had created for them. Now they must provide for themselves.

As disappointed as God was even them God had a plan to bring redemption. God had a plan to deal with the sin. The plan began when he called a man to himself that would become the father of a nation, the Israelites. God would give them his laws and commands and they would show the world what it meant to live in relationship with God. The people agree to this, but just a few days later decide it’s not worth it and build an idol of gold shaped like a cow and begin to worship it instead. And for the next five hundred years they continue to do that.

God still loves them and so he sends messengers to them – prophets – to warn them about their sin and to call them back to himself. But they won’t listen and they kill the messengers God has sent so they won’t have to hear them talk about their sin.

Then, after years of sending messengers the people refuse to listen to, because he still loves them God himself comes to his people as a baby. He is born to a poor couple, who live in an unimportant town. He lives among his people as he grows up experiencing the same pains and needs as they do. Then finally, as an adult he begins to reveal just who he is. He teaches them, he heals them, and he provides for them. And what do his people do? They have him arrested and turn him over to the Romans to have him beaten and nailed to a cross – the cruelest form of torture imaginable. They have God killed.

But the story doesn’t end there because he is God. Because he is God he rises from the dead three days later. And what does he do to those people who turned on him and had him killed? He continues to love them and says, “If you will only believe, if you will only come to me and confess your sins before me I will forgive you and restore you and give you life.”

When we understand the whole story we understand how and why Jesus could say that he is the one and only way to God. The good news is that God loved us and gave us his only Son that whoever believes in him will not die but have life everlasting.

6Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)

I came across a song this week that I wasn’t familiar with though some of you may know it. It’s an older song recorded in the late 60s by Peggy Lee called “Is That All There Is?” I say it’s a song, but she only sings the chorus while she speaks the verses. Peggy Lee didn’t write the song, but this is briefly what the song says.

When she was a little girl their house burned down and after it had burned she wondered, “Is that all there is to a fire?” She went to a circus, the greatest show on earth and when it was over she thought, “Is that all there is to a circus?” She fell in love but he left her and she asks, “Is that all there is to love?” And she's sure that at the end of her life as she faces death in the face she’ll again ask, “Is that all there is?”

So she sings in the chorus:

Is that all there is, is that all there is

If that’s all there is my friends, then let's keep dancing

Let's break out the booze and have a ball

If that's all there is

I think this is the most hopeless and depressing song I’ve ever heard. The song says that if this is all there is to life we might as well throw a party and get drunk. The truth is without Jesus there is no hope and this is all there is. Without Jesus there is no life beyond the grave. You better enjoy life now because it just doesn’t get any better. There is no hope.

But in Jesus we have hope. In Jesus we have a way to God. In Jesus we can know the truth. In Jesus we can have life. Knowing that we are all sinners deserving God’s wrath the question isn’t why is Jesus the only way, the question is why is there any way at all? Why didn’t God just give us what we deserve? And the answer is love. God loves you and wants a relationship with you. How can you have that? The answer is through Jesus who is the way, the truth, and the life. Do you believe?